To reach big goals you don’t need big actions. By habit stacking you can easily make small changes that add up to massive transformations over time.
Have you ever made a New Year’s resolution, set about it with enthusiasm, only for it to be a distant memory by February? Yeah, me too.
What about launching into a new diet or exercise programme that quickly gets abandoned? Or a new cleaning routine, savings plan or morning routine?
But what if there was a method that made it easy to stick to new habits? Well, actually there is, and that is habit stacking.
So what is habit stacking and how can it help you reach your goals?
The key to habit stacking is to take a behaviour you already do, and add on (stack) a behaviour you want to be doing.
This is explained in a lot of detail by James Clear in his brilliant book “Atomic Habits”. Well worth a read if you want to transform your own habits.
I wanted to make writing a daily habit. I struggled during the day as there were so many other things demanding my attention. By the evening I found my motivation was low and it was way easier to collapse on the couch and scroll social media. But I found a way of getting this done through habit stacking.
I have a young daughter and I always read her a story before bed. Her bedroom is next to my home office. Now, instead of heading downstairs after putting her to bed I step into my office.
Once I am at my desk most of the barriers to writing have been removed. The simple stack of: “After I put my daughter to bed I… step into my office” makes the goal of writing much easier to achieve.
The key to making habit stacking work is not to try to take on too much at once. That will be setting yourself up for failure.
Why? Because large changes in behaviour require a lot of motivation and willpower. This is fine when we are full of enthusiasm at the start of a new year, new diet, new job or whatever. The problem comes that when the enthusiasm wears off and the changes seem overwhelming, too hard or just not exciting enough to stick to any more.
Willpower doesn’t work as a habit building tool.
By using the actions you already do to trigger a behaviour you want to introduce, you have a far greater chance of making it happen. Then once the new habit becomes routine, you can build another one onto the sequence, and so on.
You can also help yourself succeed in your new habit by setting up your environment to make the habit easier.
Say you want to drink more water. You can put a glass of water by your bed at night so its the first thing you see when you turn off your alarm in the morning.
Then the habit stack becomes: When I turn off the alarm I… drink water.
You can leave your water bottle by the sink at night. So the next habit stack becomes: When I wash up after breakfast I… fill my water bottle.
You’ll also find that good habits can automatically lead to adding on other healthy habits.
Like a habit stack of: “After I get up I… make my bed” can give you a feeling of accomplishment at the start of the day. If you start your day on positive note you may feel more positive and be more productive.
So how can habit stacking help you achieve your goals?
First of all think of a goal you’d like to achieve. Then think about the actions that will help you get there.
For example if your goal is to have a clean house the actions you need to take are to work a cleaning routine into your day.
So your habit stack might look something like this:
When I get up in the morning (existing behaviour) I… make my bed (desired habit)
Once this becomes routine you could add another habit to the stack:
When I get up in the morning I make my bed and… put away clean laundry
It’s best not to make the habit stack too long. A longer chain can become overwhelming. However you can then stack habits to meet the same goal onto different actions. So continuing with the clean house goal your next habit stack might look like this:
After I take a shower I… spray and wipe the shower. Once this becomes routine you might build up to:
After I take a shower I spray and wipe the shower and gather up dirty laundry. Then:
After I take a shower I spray and wipe the shower, gather up dirty laundry and put on a wash.
I’m sure you get the picture.
Say your goal is to save more money.
Habits that support this goal are setting a budget, planning your spending and making food at home instead of getting take aways.
So here are some habit stacks that could support the goal of saving money:
- When I want to buy something I… put it on a list.
- When I open my computer I… check my budgeting app.
- Before I do my food shop I… plan my meals for the week.
- After I eat breakfast I… wash up. After I wash up I… put dinner in the slow cooker.
For more money saving tips you could use in a habit stack check out this post.
Beware too of habit stacks that work against you.
It’s very easy to subconsciously pick up bad habit stacks. Do you ever find yourself mindlessly scrolling Social Media, eating unhealthy snacks or binge watching Netflix? Chances are that you’ve picked up a negative habit stack.
I drink a lot of tea. I like to have a biscuit with my tea. So drinking tea has become a negative habit stack trigger. I have subconsciously formed habit stack which has me eating lots of biscuits.
I can turn this habit stack around by substituting tea for something else. I don’t associate biscuits with drinking water. So by switching some of the tea I drink during the day for water I can reduce the amount of biscuits I eat.
Are there any negative habit stacks you have picked up? See if you can switch your trigger to eliminate the negative habit.
Ready to reach your goals with habit stacking? Grab my free workbook now and transform your habits!
